Afghanistan and Fantasy
By sideways | Related entries in Afghanistan, The War On Terrorism, WarI’m going to impose on Justin’s kindness and do a self-serving pointer to post to this piece where I follow up on an earlier post: Did We Just Lose?
I’ve been a little surprised by the reach of the original post, and equally surprised by the responses. I think there is a fundamental disconnect now between what Americans think we’re doing, what we are doing, and what we say we’re willing to do.
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September 9th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
An Advice for Mr Bush
Dear editor,
Your interview with Mr Karzai leaves the core reality of post-Taliban Afghanistan. It is regretful that Mr Karzi is seen in the eyes of most Afghans as his communist predecessor, Babrak Karmal. He virtually failed his own country as well as the West for leading a wolf-like pack of looters and warlords. While the Western troops are being killed on the daily basis, Mr Karzai and his corrupt government is busy in looting whatever they can hold their hand on.
After September 11, President Bush said he wants Osama bin Laden dead or alive. But he is sound, alive, and relaxes with Chinese green tea, Pakistani can sugar, and Afghani Palau. Go the Pakistan’s province of Waziristan and see Osama’s evil face and his gun everywhere. Last week he celebrated a peace deal with Pakistani generals and mullahs that how will be safe in his sanctuary.
There are signs that Mr Bush is facing a strategic defeat in Afghanistan by supporting a regime that cannot defend itself. In 2001, there were only 9,000, Americans troops inside Afghanistan, and now the total number of foreign military forces increased to more than 40,000, and the security inside Afghanistan is getting worse off on the daily basis. Why should American and other Western soldiers and thousands of innocent Afghans be killed? What for? To keep Karzai and his warlords? To make Pakistani generals and mullahs the ultimate winners?
Pakistani ruling elite knows very well that the Taliban’s perverted Islam and Al-qaida can save Pakistan as a country more than tens of their atomic bombs.
Here is a piece of advice for Mr Bush if he really wants to defeat the terrorist:
1. The US must cajole and provide all kinds of support to the Pashtoon secularist, moderate, and nationalist parties who have been buried alive by Pakistani notorious ISI. ISI has eliminated the smallest does of nationalism and secularism and secularism among Pashtoons, living in both sides of Durand line. The way the Bush administration can defeat Osama and his ideology of terror. This however, is what has been resisted by Pakistani generals and mullahs for more than thirty years. Pakistan successfully marginaled and suppressed modernism, secularism, and moderation among the Pashtoons. Loot at Baluchistan. One of its leaders the late Akbar Bugti who wanted to get rid of the rule of the mad mullah and duplicitous generals in his province. They killed him why? Because he was reading Nietzsche. Once the Taliban’s leaders and Pashtoons start reading Nietzsche that will be Mr Bush’s historical victory. This will be resisted by Pakistani mullah-general elite, because they see the death of Pakistan like Yugoslovakia.
2. Mr Bush must gets rid of warlords from the so-called Northern Alliance. Although Mr Karzai removed them from his cabinet, but his parasitic criminals are still ruling Kabul, and Mr Karzai is their captive. This was the US greatest strategic mistake to ally itself with the remnants of former communist and former Mujahideen warlords. Most of the Afghans hate this parasitic power hungry group, which was propelled to power by the US in 2001. Before the 9/11, this group was a proxy of Iranian and Russians. By bringing this group to power, the US made a huge unbridgeable moral gap. This is an important factor to boasted Taliban’s and Al-qaida’s moral.
Mr Karzai must be replaced by another good Afghan who can play a galvanizing role for peace and security in Afghanistan. This can be done if the Bush administration forms a council of famous Afghan scholars from around the world, tribal leaders, and moderate leaders among the Taliban.
Mr Bush now needs to take a deep breath and initiate a dialogue with the Taliban. There are some moderate elements among them who love Afghanistan, and now know very well what Pakistan has done to them and everyone else in this world.
The Bush administration must get serious with Pakistan and stop being fooled but generals and mullahs who wants to draw upon terrorism and the ideology of perverted Islam for their national interests. In a secret program Pakistani ISI continue to support some of the evil Taliban’s leader by giving them a safe haven in different areas of Pakistan. The ISIS now counts days for the second coming of these Taliban. If Mr Bush manages to kill the last Taliban, he cannot win the war on terrorism, because the progenitors of terror and Al-qaida are living in Pakistan and their leaders are ruling the country’s Pashtoon majority province. Any change of leader in Pakistan won’t cut an ice. No matter who rules in Islamabad, a general, a mullah, or even a lady with Western make-up, Pakistan’s real ruler is the ISI. The ISI functions as a self-serving double-agent; it pleases the US as their friend in the war against terror, and pleases the Taliban and Al-Qaida by pretending it is the true pillar of Islam.
It is a wake-up time for Mr Bush and his administration to save face in Afghanistan, or get defeated miserably like Russians.
Ehsan Azari, Sydney-based Afghan writer.
September 11th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Ehsan, what you have said I can agree with, but you stop a degree or three short in my opinion.
You better than most know that Taliban and the other Mujahadeen warlords were the front of the war against the Russians. It was they who succeeded in removing the occupier – as you have correctly (in my opinion) suggested could happen to the US and the other forces still in Afghanistan.
What, in let us say fifteen years time, will Pakistan be reaping for their support of the US war in Afghanistan? Will we see a “Taliban” take power in the vacuum left by the departure of the US’s support for the present regime? For depart the US will, at some time, and they will not look back. Just as they walked out of Afghanistan. Just as they will walk out of Iraq. They will not leave because they were “defeated”. The US are far too pragmatic for that. In exactly the same way as Britain will not stay in Iraq for much longer, the political cost at home is fast outstripping the gains to be made overseas. There is a point at which the electorate says “Enough”.
For when we get to the end of all of the analysis and criticism and politics and rhetoric and propaganda, how many will turn and say “What have we really achieved.
___________________________________________________________
“Surely the only crop that we, the rich, will harvest from the slaughter will be more terrorists?”
September 15th, 2006 at 1:55 am
[...] Given that, I think we should take a look at the post again, as well as the followup, and talk about the WoT and what it means given this new development. [...]
June 16th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I would like to support Mr. Azeri’s arguments, it’s a fact that we can not ignore or deny that Mr. Karzi is another Shah Shuja and Karmal in Afghanistan’s history. It’s not only Mr. Karzi, who ever are going to be imposed by foreign forces and government will have the same equality to Shah Shuja and Karmal.
Afghanistan is war torn country for the past 25 years and need a concrete support and solution not a temporary solution until the oil game is over in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Taliban are gathering in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but let me assure you that under the name of Taliban all Afghans are supporting them as they did during Russian invasion with Mujahideen. Afghan people are helping Taliban slowly slowly as they do not want foreign forces in their country, unfortunately the solution which should have been under the banner of United Nation failed as it’s influenced and controlled deeply by American.
Mr. Bush’s big political mistake in America’s history was to invade Iraq, they did not finish their business in Afghanistan to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden!! Afghanistan became a bleeding heart to Russians back in eighties and now for US.
If US going to leave Afghanistan and Iraq, the only reason that I can think is their defeat.
It’s a fact that this is worse then Vietnam. They scrambled Iraq and fueled domestic violence between parties and same in Afghanistan.
Their troops should leave Afghanistan if they are really honest and a massive UN troops should take over
and these troops should be mostly from Muslim countries.